Think of Scarlett O’ Hara from Gone With The Wind or Scout Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird. They never ever lived and they’ll never die. Yet Margaret Mitchell and Harper Lee made their characters so believable they became immortal.

In our special featured series on building fictional characters we are building a reference so you can create characters who think, love, hope, cry, feel pain and even inflict pain.

Marc McCutcheon, in his book Building Believable Characters, starts by conducting an inspiring and informative roundtable where six novelists reveal their approaches to characterisation. Next, he provides a character questionnaire more detailed than the nosiest survey where you can flesh out the fictional people in your novels and stories.